Gracie, who trains Shields, talked about how his fighter can beat
the UFC welterweight champion. In particular, he explained where
St. Pierre has the advantage, where Shields is better and why
mixing it up is important.

Gracie on Shields’ worst position against St. Pierre: “Not
on his back. Jake is awesome on his back. You saw when he fought
Dan
Henderson, you saw that Henderson couldn’t control him when he
was on top position. Jake won every scramble. Jake ended up on top
position from every scramble. I don’t have a problem with Jake on
his back. Jake in top position is going to be a nightmare. The
worst position is standing in front of Georges St. Pierre thinking
about what you’re going to do next and Georges is doing it. You
just can’t stand there without any head movement and expect things
to go your way because it’s not going to happen.”

On his belief that Shields will sweep GSP: “I think in five
rounds, barring someone getting knocked out or something, it’s
going to go to the ground. If Georges St. Pierre is on top, I think
[a sweep] is going to happen. Jake is not a common wrestler. I
think Chuck
Liddell brought that up the other day on Dana’s video blog when
they were discussing it. Jake doesn’t wrestle the way a wrestler
wrestles. He doesn’t do the thing you expect him to do. He’s kind
of an awkward guy to grapple with, is what it is. I think that if
Jake can just mix it up, he’s going to win the scrambles. I think
that’s where the fight is.”

On how GSP wins fights: “You can’t stand in front of Georges
St. Pierre. You stand in front, his speed is going to get you. He’s
too quick. His jab, his superman punch, people get caught when
they’re standing there looking at him. You hesitate with that guy,
he’s going to pull the trigger. That’s how he punishes people and
ends up winning fights. We saw it time and time again. We saw it
with Fitch. We saw it with Koscheck. That’s pretty much it. Now
when he can’t win the standup battle, he resorts to taking people
down. Takes them down, and he controls the pace on the ground. He
punishes people from top position. He’s got a great jiu-jitsu coach
in John Danaher and he doesn’t get tapped out.”

On what Shields has to do to win: “Jake doesn’t have the
speed he’s got on the feet. He’s going to have to mix it up. He’s
going to have to have GSP commit. He’s going to have to get the
tie-up. He’s going to have to clinch with him, take this to enemy
territory on the ground, where Jake feels really good, and he’s
going to have to submit that little French Canadian. That’s about
it.”